Philly man accused of selling cocaine in Lansdale headed for trial in county court

LANSDALE — A Philadelphia man who Lansdale police said was in possession of cocaine and Vicodin while being arrested in August for allegedly selling drugs in the borough last spring waived preliminary hearings in both cases on Thursday morning.

Appearing in District Judge Harold Borek’s Lansdale courtroom in shackles and a prison jumpsuit, Gregory Williams, 35, of the 5000 block of North American Street, waived multiple drug charges in exchange for adjustments to his bail.

In the case pertaining to the possession charges during his arrest last month, Borek lowered Williams’ bail from $25,000 cash to $25,000 unsecured. Regarding the drug-dealing charges stemming from an investigation by Lansdale police launched in February, Borek lowered Williams’ bail from $75,000 cash to 10 percent of $25,000 cash.

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However, Williams is also being held at Montgomery County Correctional Facility on a probation violation detainer from Philadelphia, so even if he were to post bail in the Lansdale cases, he’ll remain behind bars for the time being. authorities said on Thursday.

Williams was picked up Aug. 19 by Lansdale police on an active felony arrest warrant after detectives from the Lansdale Street Crimes Unit spotted Williams exiting an apartment near West 5th Street and getting into his SUV around 5:15 p.m.

During a pat-down prior to arrest, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in district court, Williams was found with multiple stacks of $40 in his pocket — police said that based on their previous narcotics investigation of Williams, he was known to sell $40 bags of cocaine.

Williams was brought back to Lansdale police headquarters for processing.

Meanwhile, detectives conducting an inventory search of Williams’ SUV prior to it being towed from the scene discovered and confiscated 10 bags, each containing a white powder, in the center console of the vehicle, according to the affidavit. The powder in one of the bags field-tested positive for cocaine, police said.

The SUV was impounded, and after obtaining a search warrant for the vehicle the next day, detectives found five white pills in the center console stamped “Vicodin ES” — a narcotic pain medicine for which Williams did not have a prescription, police said.

Back in February, detectives from the Street Crimes Unit first received multiple tips that a black male going by the nickname “G” was selling cocaine in Lansdale and surrounding areas in the North Penn region, and subsequent investigation identified “G” as Williams, according to police.

At the end of May, police learned that Williams was going to engage in a specific drug deal in Lansdale, and according to court documents, detectives witnessed the transaction and later recovered the drugs Williams allegedly sold to the customer, which was analyzed and determined to be .78 grams of cocaine.

A warrant for Williams’ arrest in connection with that incident was issued by District Judge Harold Borek of Lansdale on Aug. 14.

On Aug. 20, Williams was arraigned before Borek in connection with both the alleged drug deal in May and his arrest on Aug. 19. Between the two cases, Williams was charged with eight felony and misdemeanor drug-related offenses, including possession with intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Williams is scheduled to be formally arraigned in county court in both cases on Nov. 6.